Adopt the Garden. Let's network!

A network of small local producers is being created - of which Masseria Gianferrante is a part - who are the guardians of the 'seeds of their grandparents', i.e. horticulturists committed to safeguarding the biodiversity of traditional Apulian horticultural species (www.salentokm0.it).The masseria's vegetable garden also grows, among other species, the Regina tomato, a local variety for growing in greenhouses and also suitable for arid cultivation, which owes its name to the peduncle that takes the form of a small crown as it grows.Since the beginning of the 19th century, it has been grown from June to September and sold fresh, while overproduction was stored in the characteristic ramasola or pennula tomato (bunches of tomatoes tied together with cotton thread) for consumption until April. This product was grown together with a local variety of cotton, which made it possible to detect diseases on the tomato before they occurred.The cotton was used to make cloth for towels, sheets and tablecloths while the spinning waste was used to hang the tomatoes.This is just one of the many stories that a true biodiversity garden can tell, if it is managed with passion.